Mel Stride has pledged to make sweeping tax cuts for businesses and young house buyers if the Tories are re-elected, in a speech talking up the party’s economic plans for the coming years.
In a speech setting out the Tories’ commitment to keep public spending under control and lower costs for businesses, Stride accused Labour of misleading voters on keeping taxes low as he pointed to tax cuts under Margaret Thatcher’s government as an example for the Tories to follow.
The Shadow Chancellor announced the Tories would apply a tax exemption to firms across the retail and hospitality sectors that pay £110,000 or less a year in business rates.
The Tories believe that the exemption on business rates for pubs and shops would cost the government £4bn a year.
Stride said: “Under Labour many have seen their business rates double. We need to get business rates down.
“In fact, we need to go further. Much, much further. So today I can announce that, as a direct result of getting public spending under control, a future Conservative government will completely abolish business rates for shops and pubs on our high streets.”
Stride’s tax cuts drive
Stride also said young people would be given a £5,000 national insurance rebate towards the cost of their first home in a move labelled the “first-job bonus”.
The Conservatives said the rebate would cost the government some £2.8bn a year and benefit around 600,000 people.
“When we deliver the urgent change that is needed to stop young people going straight from school to a life on benefits, we will use those reforms to fund tax cuts which are laser-focused on aspiring young people.”
“Helping people to buy a home, build a family, save for the future – that is the Conservative dream, a dream that built my life. It is why I stand before you today, and I’ll fight every single day to make sure that that dream is burning bright for younger people and for the generations to come.”
The costs would be funded by sweeping spending cuts to welfare bill projections and the civil service, which would see a reduction in headcount of around a fifth.
The party believes around £47bn in savings could be made a year, partly funding tax cuts for businesses and young adults.
He told Tory members that the party would also only bring taxes down “when it is affordable” as he pointed to errors in Liz Truss’ mini-Budget, adding that the Tories would not make unfunded spending commitments if they were re-elected.
“Where Labour chooses debt, we choose discipline,” Stride said. “Where they choose welfare, we choose work.”
“When they choose stagnation, we choose aspiration.”